No, no, and no deals - Zuma

2003-08-15 13:32

Donwald Pressly

Cape Town- South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma has told the national directorate of public prosecutions he has never used his public office to advance anyone's private business interests and never took a bribe from a French company associated with the arms deal.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, his said his lawyers "today submitted to national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka my responses to the questions posed to me" relating to corruption regarding South Africa's arms procurement process.

Indicating he was unhappy with the manner in which the investigation had been carried out - by the national prosecuting authority of South Africa - he said he had never attempted to solicit any bribe.

He also never had used his office to "to advance the private business interest of any person", and he never had discussed with his business adviser, Schabir Shaik , "or anyone else for that matter the issue of protecting (the French company) Thales/Thomson.

The Scorpions investigation unit - which falls under Ngcuka's command - is investigating alleged solicitation by Zuma of a R500 000 bribe from Thales/Thomson, which is involved in the multibillion-rand arms deal.

He was asked by the Scorpions to reply to 35 questions which also covered his relationship with Shaik.

His responses mirrored those in reply to questions in parliament earlier this year - when he was responding to Democratic Alliance finance spokesperson Raenette Taljaard.

She had asked if he had tried to solicit the bribe from the former head of the southern African division of Thomson, Alain Thetard.

She also asked whether he had any business interests with Thomson's South African subsdiary, African Defence Systems, and the Nkobi Group, which is linked to Shaik.

Thomson and ADS were part of a consortium that won the R6bn contract to supply four corvettes.

Then, he said he "rejected outright the allegations".

Today, he said much the same thing:

"As said before in a reply to a parliamentary question, I did not meet Mr Thetard on March 11 2000.

I have never had any discussions with any French company or individual about finances.

"The allegations apparently arise from an encrypted fax, which originated in French and was translated into English, I have since gathered.

I have never seen the alleged fax which is said to have been prepared in the French language, and do not know whether such a document actually exists. "I have said before, and I repeat, that:

I have never attempted to solicit any bribe;

I have never used my public office to advance the private business interest of any person;

I have never discussed with Schabir (Shaik) or anyone else for that matter, the issue of protecting Thomson/Thales or any other company or individual from the investigation of the joint investigation team (JIT) into the strategic defence procurement.

"It is mind-boggling as to how anyone could manage to influence an investigation that was being conducted by three different agencies."

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